Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassel may not be very popular in the stands, but he still has support in the locker room.

Chiefs right tackle Eric Winston took fans to task for cheering when Cassel left the game with a head injury.

The veteran blocker called a group of reporters over, and said the following words, via Arrowhead Pride:

ďWe are athletes, OK? We are athletes. We are not gladiators. This is not the Roman Coliseum. People pay their hard-earned money when they come in here and I believe they can boo, they can cheer and they can do whatever they want, I believe that. We are lucky to play this game. People, itís hard to economic times, and they still pay the money to do this.

ďBut when somebody gets hurt, there are long lasting ramifications to the game we play, long lasting ramifications to the game we play. Iíve already kinda come to the understanding that I wonít live as long because I play this game and thatís OK, thatís a choice Iíve made and a choice all of us have made.

ďBut when you cheer, when you cheer somebody getting knocked out, I donít care who it is, and it just so happened to be Matt Cassel ó itís sickening. Itís 100 percent sickening. Iíve been in some rough times on some rough teams, Iíve never been more embarrassed in my life to play football than in that moment right there.

ďI get emotional about it because these guys, they work their butts off. Matt Cassel hasnít done anything to you people, hasnít done anything to you people. Hasnít done anything to the media writers that kill him, hasnít done anything wrong to the people that come out here and cheer him. Hey, if heís not the best quarterback then heís not the best quarterback and thatís OK. But heís a person. And he got knocked out in a game and we have 70,000 people cheering that he got knocked out?

ďBoo him all you want. Boo me all you want. Throw me under the bus. Tell me Iím doing a bad job. Say I gotta protect him more. Do whatever you want. Say whatever you want. But if you are one of those people, one of those people that were out there cheering or even smiled when he got knocked out, I just want to let you know, and I want everybody to know that I think itís sickening and disgusting. We are not gladiators and this is not the Roman Coliseum. This is a game.

ďIíll sit here and Iíll answer all your questions for the next 30 minutes if you want to ask them and Iíll take all the responsibility I can take because I deserve it but donít blame a guy, and donít cheer for a guy who has done everything in his power to play as good as he can for the fans.

ďItís sickening. And I was embarrassed. I want every single one of you people to put this on your station and in your newspapers because I want every fan to know that. This is a game thatís going to cost us a lot down the road. Thatís OK. We picked it, we deserve it and I donít want your pity. But we have a lot of problems as a society if people think thatís OK.

ďIíll get off my soap box and you guys can ask any football question you want.Ē

No, Eric, that pretty much covers it.

The Chiefs have played poorly. Frankly, they are a disaster. Cassel leads the parade.

But for too many fans, their passion for the team leads them to forget that the laundry theyíre cheering for has a human being inside it.

I care more that a well thrown and on time ball that the receivers can catch with out getting nailed in the process. I hate to see a guy hurt, but much rather it be him than any one of the other players on this team. JC is going get ran to death so instead maybe another QB can help this team to save us from other injuries. If the coach is to stupid to pull his QB What can we do?

Winston has overstepped. I get what he was saying but he threw all the fans under the bus when it was really just a few. As Jack said, this is going to make the rounds in the media to paint a horrible picture of the fans. Couple that with the banner now.